Intermittent-operating mechanism.



E. F. GEIGER.

INTERMITTENT OPERATING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 10. i915,

' 1,184,848. Patented May 30,1916.

W/T/VESSES m/ l/EA/mQ ETFGf/GE/P I sr/msAr N56 EDWARD F. GEIGER, F DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

INTERMITTENT-OPERATING MECHANISM.

Patented May 30, 1916.

Application filed December 10, 1915. Serial No. 66,122.

. 1 will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention has for its object to provide a simple and highly efficient electromechanical movement adapted for general use to produce an intermittent, or step by step movement; and generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

A motion producing device of the character above indicated, has many uses and is, for example, especially adapted for use in secondary clock systems, wherein the hands of the secondary clocks are moved forward at regular intervals, by electrical impulses transmitted over a controlling circuit. The

device is also well adapted for use in selfwinding clocks wherein the main spring is re-wound at regular intervals. It would not be possible and is not necessary for the purposes of this case, to attempt a specific enumeration of all of the machines or apparatus in which my said electro-mechanical movement may be found serviceable.

It is a well known fact thatas an arma- "ture approaches the core of an electro-magnet, the pull rapidly becomes stronger, becoming very strong when only a short distance intervenes between the armature and magnet core. Many arrangements of mag nets and armatures have been devised to secure a uniform, or approximately uniform effective magnetical pull, but so far as I am aware, a satisfactory solution of this problem has not hitherto been attained. I believe that I have solved this problem by an extremely simple and efficient device which operates under friction so light that it may be treated as negligible, and which is silent to in its action.

- This improved device includes an electromagnet, a rocker base and an armatureequipped rocker having-a rocking action on the said base which shifts the point of contact or fulcrum of the said rocker so that the said fulcrum approaches the armature of the rocker when the latter is drawn toward the magnet, and, of course, recedes from the armature when the armature recedes from the magnet. This gives a differentially acting lever, the power of which is greatest when the armature is farthest from the magnet and the power of which decreases when the magnetical force increases upon approach of the armature to the magnet. By properly designing the cooperating rocker and rocker support, an approxi mately constant force at the power, or lifting end of the rocker may be rendered available in the various different positions of the rocker armature. The rocking action between the rocker base and armature may be caused by curved surfaces on either one or on both of the said members, but preferably, the rocker base or support is made flat and the rocker is curved, and this latter arrangement is the one illustrated in the drawings.

In the drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings: Figure l is a view in side elevation showing the improved electro-mechanical movement; and Fig. 2 is a plan view with some parts broken away.

Of the parts of the motor mechanism shown, the numeral 9 indicates a toothed wheel pivoted upon a shaft journal 10.

The numeral 8 indicates a fixed electro magnet whose core, at its armature end, enters into a plate 6 of brass, or other suitable nonmagnetic material fastened, preferably, also to a support, not shown, but which might be used also as a support for the shaft 10. This plate 6 serves as the so-called rocker base above referred to, and, as shown, is flat. The armature 2, as shown, is made integral with laterally spaced curved arms 3 that constitute the rocker above referred to. The outer ends of the rocker arms 3 are pivotally attached at 21, to a pin 20, the ends of which are held by looped ends 19 of a pair of light curved leaf springs 17, the inner ends of which are anchored by rivets 18, or the like, to the rocker base 6. A driving pawl 7, at its upper end, is pivoted on the pin 20 and is located between the arms of the rocker 3, and its free end is engageable with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 9, and, normally, is held interlocked with the same by a pin lock or other fixed stop 11. The leaf springs 1'} not only serve to normally force the armature away from the magnet, as shown by full lines in Fig. 1, but also keep the rocker 3 properly located on the rocker support 6 while permitting the fulcrum thereof, to travel back and forth toward and from the armature end, under rocking movements of the said rocker.

The numeral 12 indicates a spring or gravity-actuatcd retaining dog pivoted to a fixed support 13 that engages the teeth of the wheel 9 and prevents backward rotation thereof.

The numeral 4 indicates a spring or gravity-actuated dog pivoted to a fixed support 5 and arranged to engage the teeth of the wheel 9, and prevents over-rotation thereof, in the direction of the arrow marked on the said wheel in Fig. 1. This dog 4: is so wide that it straddles the space between the arms of the rocker 3, and hence, is normally held in a raised inoperative position, as shown by full lines in Fig. 1, but is adapted to be dropped down to engagement with the teeth of the wheel 9, when the armature 2 and rocker are moved into the dotted line position Fig. 3, so as to retract the driving dog 7 and engage the same with the tooth farther away from the stop 11.

The numeral 14: indicates an electric circuit containing a battery or other source of electrical energy 16, a circuit closing device 15, and the windings of the magnet 8. Here it may be stated that the said electromagnet 8 is composed of two coils connected in series.

Normally, and as shown by full lines in Fig. 1, the wheel 9 is locked against movement in both directions, by the dogs 4.- and 12. If now the electric circuit 14 be closed at 15, the electro-magnet 8 becomes energized and pulls the armature 2 downward or toward it, thereby rockin the rocker 3 and retracting the driving 0g 7 into the dotted line position, Fig. 1, under which action, as already clearly stated, the fulcrum of the rocker shifts toward the armature and decreases the power of the rocker as a lever as the magnetic force increases on the armature. As the rocker is thus moved, the stop dog 1 comes into engagement with a tooth of the wheel 9 and positively prevents over-rotation thereof. When the circuit 11 is opened, the electro-magnet 8 is deenergized and releases the armature 2 so that the tension of the springs 17 rolls the rocker, and through the pawl 7, rotates the wheel 9 forward until stopped and locked by the stop 11. It will thus be seen that upon each closing and opening of the electric circuit, the wheel 9, which controls the movement of some mechanism, such as the hands of a secondary clock, will be rotated forward a definite step, and by the arrangement of the pawls and stops, the wheel will always be locked against any, other than normal desired or predetermined rotation. The surfaces of the rocker and rocker support are preferably smooth, but might be provided with intermeshing teeth or corrugations, although with the arrangement of retracting and holding springs 17, such arrangement is not necessary or desirable.

What I claim is:

1. An electro-mechanical motion comprising a n electro-magnet, a rocker base, a rocker having an armature subject to said magnet and movable on said base with a shifting fulcrum that travels in respect to said electro-magnet when said armature moves toward and from said electro-magnet, a driven element, and means whereby oscillatory movements of said rocker will impart intermittent movements to said driven element.

2. An electro-mechanical motion comprising an electro-magnet, a rocker base, a rocker having an armature subject to said magnet and movable on said base with a shifting fulcrum that approaches said electro-magnet when said armature approaches said electr'o-magnet, a toothed wheel, and a driving dog carried by said rocker and operative on said toothed wheel to intermittently move the same under oscillatory movements of said rocker.

3. An electro-mechanical motion comprising an electro-magnet, a rocker base, a rocker having an armature subject to said magnet and movable on said base with a shifting fulcrum that travels in respect to said electro-magnet when said armature moves toward and from said electro-magnet, a driven element, and means whereby oscillatory movements of said rocker will impart intermittent movements to said driven element, and a spring tending to retract said armature from said electro-magnet and to impart one movement to said driven element.

4. An electromechanical motion comprising an electro-magnet, a rocker base, a. rocker having an armature subject to said magnet and movable on said base with a shifting fulcrum that travels in respect to said electro-magnet when said armature moves toward and from said electro-magnet, a driven element, and means whereby oscillatory movements of said rocker will impart intermittent movements to said driven element, and a spring tending to retract said armature from said electro-magnet and to impart one movement to said driven element, the said spring further serving to maintain said rocker always in operative relation to said base while permitting the rocking movements thereof.

5. An electro-meehanical motion comprising an electro-magnet, a relatively fixed rocker base, a rocker movable on said base with a shifting fulcrum, and having anabmature subject to said magnet, a leaf spring anchored at one end to said base and attached to said rocker at its other end, a toothed Wheel, and a driving dog carried by said rocker and operative on said toothed wheel.

6. An electro-mechanical motion com rising an electro-magnet, a relatively xed flat rocker base, a curved rocker movable with a shifting fulcrum on said base and having at one end an armature subject to said magnet, a pair of laterally spaced leaf springs attached to. the other end of said rocker at one end, With their other ends anchored to said base and exertin a force tending to retract said armature rom said magnet, a toothed Wheel, and a driving dog pivotally attached to that end of said rocker to Which said leaf springs are attached and operative on the teeth of said Wheel.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

EDWARD F. GEIGER. Witnesses:

CHAS. A. BRONSON, HUGH L. JoYoE.

0091 of thin patent my be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commiuioner of Patents.

Wanhington, D. 0. 

